


Bitter Sweet

by imagineheadcanonsarea



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Apocalypse, American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Love, Romance, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 17:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18529516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagineheadcanonsarea/pseuds/imagineheadcanonsarea
Summary: Misty Day knew she shouldn't be feeling like that, she knew she had no right to, but she couldn't help. Everytime Mallory walked inside the room, she wanted the girl to be gone.





	Bitter Sweet

The first time it happened, Misty felt like it was better to die again – she kinda wished she would die again so she wouldn’t have to see it. It was such a small and simple thing that Cordelia had no problem to hide it from anyone, but Misty was no fool, as much as people like to think she is. It started as a normal monday when Mallory entered the kitchen holding a Kleenex pack with Coco behind her proclaiming the girl had sneezed all night. A flu, everybody has a flu sometimes. But by tuesday Mallory was fine, almost like she hadn’t spent all day coughing, and she was back to her classes.

The surprise came when Misty searched for Cordelia before lunch to talk to her and found the Supreme leaving the bathroom with a red nose. “Are ya okay?”

“Of course!” Cordelia laughed, approaching Misty to give her a gentle kiss. “Just went to pee, you know, I also have to do it.”

Misty rolled her eyes – she didn’t bought the excuse, but she wasn’t going to press it. “Some of the girls asked if we can go to a fiel trip to the swamps this weekend.”

Cordelia arched her eyebrown with a small grin. “Which girl?” She knew her students and, besides Mallory, no one else would ask for that.

“Me.” The taller blonde had the cutest smile in the world when she leaned to place a soft kiss to the corner of the Supreme’s mouth. “Imma your girl.”

Cordelia laughed again, louder and happier, a little impressed by her wife. “Yes, you are.”

“So?” Misty raised her eyebrowns a couple times while putting her arms around Cordelia and pulling her closer. The door was closed and was almost lunch time, she didn’t had to worry about someone catching them – she wouldn’t mind, but Cordelia was relentless about keeping her image as the Supreme.

“Well, you can go, but I’m not sure any of the girls will want to go with you.”

That was the first time Cordelia ever got sick after the Apocalypse. Since Mallory had go back in time and change all of it, it was actually the first time Cordelia got sick after she became the Supreme. It happened five years and a few months after Nan brought Misty back from Hell and that broke her heart. Misty remembered when Fiona started to get worst and worst as days went bye and, even if she wasn’t around to see it, she could picture how Cordelia raised to power. She could imagine it was pretty amazing, considering even her eyes went back to normal, and even the scars disappeared.

But Cordelia denied she was sick and she did a very good job at hiding it from everyone else, and Misty calmed herself down when she realized it was nothing but a small flu that was gone in less than a week and everything was fine. It took two more years for the Supreme to get sick again and by the time it happened, Zoe and Madison wasn’t living in the house anymore, Mallory was a teacher and not a student and they had to buy a second house so they could shelter all the girls that searched for them.

Misty woke up with empty arms and the distant sound of coughing. “Delia?”

“Yeah?” That was the only word Cordelia managed to say before another cough fit hit her.

Misty rolled around, already throwing her blankets away, and got up from the bed. The floor was cold under her bare feet, but she was used to it, so she simply walked to the bathroom. “What’s goin’ on?” She was aware that her accent was heavier with sleep, but she also knew Cordelia loved it.

“It’s just a alergic reaction.” Cordelia waved her hand when she heard that Misty was behind her. She coughed again before she turned around to smile to her wife. “You should go back to bed, honey, you look about to pass out.”

The swamp witch sighed and walked to hug Cordelia. “Do ya want some water?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Cordelia took a deep breath to recover.

“Nah, I’m goin’ to grab a cup for ya. Go sit in bed.”

Less than a week after, Cordelia was fine again. That time, Queenie also realized that the Supreme wasn’t feeling very well, but she didn’t said a thing about it when she saw Misty making a potion to help. Misty was sure the girl spread the news to the other Council members, because Zoe started to visit more and Madison even kept her mouth shut for the most part of it.

The next time it happened, Cordelia couldn’t hide from anyone what was going on. She fainted. The Council was having a meeting to decide a few things when the Supreme got up from her chair and, just when she was about to take the first step, she fell in the ground. Misty jumped from her chair, but she wasn’t fast enough to catch her.

“Cordelia!” Misty shouted, already kneeling by her side to help her getting up.

“I’m okay.” The woman whispered. Besides a little ache in her wrist, she was in fact okay, but she knew no one would believe her.

“What happened?” Queenie asked with a worried look in her face.

Cordelia, who was now sitting in the ground with Misty’s hands around her arms, shook her head. “I didn’t eat anything today, I just got weak.”

Weak. The Supreme never got weak. “Well, sit down. I will go get you some coffee and crackers.” Zoe said, before going to her other side so Misty and her could help Cordelia got up and sit down in her chair.

But even after she ate, Cordelia still felt bad for hours. Misty used mud to heal her wrist, made some tea for her to drink, and stayed in bed with her all day, but, by the end of the night, Cordelia had a fever that wasn’t there before and she couldn’t keep nothing in her stomach. It was just after dinner that a knock came at the door and Misty went to open it.

“Mallory?” Her voice wasn’t gentle as it normally was.

“Hi. Zoe told us that Cordelia wasn’t feeling very well today, I just wanted to know if is there anything I can do to help. Does she need anything?” Mallory’s smile was gentle, sweet, inocent even. So willing to help.

“Is Zoe still here?” Misty asked. She told before the meeting that Madison buyed them tickets to some concert that night.

“Yes! I will sleep with Coco so they can sleep in their old room.” The younger girl sounded happy, like having her friend (s?) there was the most amazing thing in the world. “So, how is she feeling?”

Misty looked at Mallory. Really looked at her. From hair to toe, shoulder to shoulder. The girl was really young, Misty knew it, she was almost thirteen years younger than Misty herself. When they met, she was only sixteen, already carrying the weight of saving the world upon her shoulders, sounding much older than she looked. But right now, standing outside their room, Mallory never looked younger, alive, good. She looked like she could go out and beat a lion with her bare hands, like she could stop a train if she wanted to, like she was ready for anything. Misty threw a look over her shoulder to the woman in bed. Her wife. Pale, curled in her own body, trying to hide under the covers because of the fever, with a bucket by her side in case she needed to vomit again.

Misty knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t stoped blaming Mallory for that.

It came as a surprise to everyone. Mallory and Misty were really close, like lost siblings or something like it, so it was a shock to see Misty pushing her away with harsh and cold words. Misty knew that what she was doing wasn’t right, that it wasn’t actually the girl’s fault and that it was just life, but there was a part of her, probably some primary instinct to protect the one she loved, that made her want the girl away. She realized that Cordelia would get weaker and weaker as time went by, while Mallory was going to get stronger and, in the end, her power would kill the older Supreme so she could rise, and Misty felt bitter.

How Cordelia managed to look at the girl everyday was a mistery to her. How could someone look at the person that would be the death of her everyday like nothing was wrong? Every thing was wrong.

Misty never brought up the subject, neither did Cordelia or any of the other girls, until Coco did.

“It’s not her fault.” The rich girl said one day when there was only the two of them in the kitchen. “I know what you’re doing, but it’s not her fault. Mallory don’t want this.”

Misty gulped loudly, almost dropping the cup from her hand. She knew that, but she couldn’t help how she felt about it. “I know.”

“So why are you acting like it is?”

“What would you do if it was the other way around?”

Coco didn’t had a reply, but Misty didn’t push the subject furter. A week later, Zoe and Madison moved back to the Academy with the excuse that living alone was more boring then they thought it would be. The Council was back together to keep an eye in their Supreme, but Cordelia didn’t needed this. She was fine for a while, strong as a horse, healthier than ever.

“Mallory is a very strong witch.” Cordelia said one day, with a happy smile. The imagine of proud. “She had proved that a lot of times to all of us.” Misty remembered the girl had learned a new power just a few days before and shivered. The girl had just learned how to transmutate, out of nowhere, with no help. “I think she’s ready to be a part of this Council.”

Silence. They could almost hear a cricket in the backyard – Misty was sure they could hear her heart beating fast against her chest in panic. Zoe and Queenie exchanged a look. They were the first members of Cordelia’s council and they lived with her more than the other two had, it looked like they were trying to comunicate without saying anything, but it was Madison who spoke first.

“Isn’t there a rule that say: don’t put a girl in a woman’s position?” She mocked.

Cordelia rolled her eyes to her older student. “I have been watching her for years now, Madison. She’s ready.”

“So why are you asking us? Or that wasn’t a question?”

“Well, you’re my current Council, your opinion is very important to me.” Cordelia shrugged.

Madison watched her Supreme for a couple of seconds, before scoffing. “It wasn’t a question then.”

“I don’t want her to be unprepared like I was.” The older woman explained. “This way, she will start to help taking decision for this Coven. I won’t do it if any of you have an objection.”

Zoe moved unconfortable in her chair before answering. “If you think she’s ready, I agree with it. You’re right, she’s very talent, I teached her myself when she first got here and I can tell that.”

“You could have done it without flirting.” Madison snapped back to her girlfriend.

“I never...”

“Fine.” Madison cut Zoe before she could finish. “But I won’t work with Junior until we have her fully trained.”

Queenie rolled her eyes. “I think she will be a great help, we do have a lot of papers to go throught. Besides, the newest one does the boring stuff.”

Cordelia giggled at the girl, squeezing her hand on top of the desk, before turning to look at Misty with a smile that warmed the whole room. “So?”

Misty knew she was right – like always. Mallory was ready to do it and it was going to be beneficial to everyone to have her be envolved in things before she becames the Supreme, Win-win. But she looked at Cordelia again. Just the other night, she had to say a spell twice in the greenhouse, just after Mallory transmutate from her room to the kitchen to get a cup of water.

Her eyes filled with tears before she could stop herself. Misty never hated anyone, not even the crazy people who burned her at the stake, and maybe she didn’t actually hate the girl, but she wished Mallory never got there in the first place.

“Misty?” Cordelia’s smile had fadded into worry when she saw the look in her girlfriend’s eyes.

“Sure.” She whispered, seconds before spinning out of the room.

Misty ignored everyone while she ran to the greenhouse, knowing Cordelia was right behind her. She managed to slip inside the greenhouse before she started to cry and sob like never before. Cordelia had her arms around her in a heatbeat, stroking her hair and whispering sweet things in her ear, trying to calm her down and stop the tears.

The Cajun had gone throught a lot of shit in her life. Burned at the stake, left to die in a coffin, fail the Seven Wonders, she was judge for being different all her life, she never had friends and she lived in the Swamps for months all by herself. Nothing of that was easy to live by, but to think that Cordelia, her soulmate, was going to die, was the worst thing that ever happened to her.

Misty prayed to Goddess or whatever superior being that could exist to take her in Cordelia’s place. She would gladly go if that meant Cordelia would be okay.

“Misty, darling, talk to me.” Cordelia begged. She felt useless and powerless, like there was nothing she could do to help the other woman.

“You’re dying.” The wild-haired woman whispered, feeling her knees became jelly under her.

Cordelia, sensing the woman was about to collapse, helped her sit in one of the stools, not letting go of her hands in the process. Misty was shaking, holding her hands so fiercely that it was almost painful, but she wasn’t going to complain, not when her wife looked so lost and terrified. “Misty, baby, what are you talking about?”

Misty shook her head and looked at their hands, lost in the feeling inside her chest. She felt hopeless and that was something she never felt before. “Mal-Mallory i-is getting stron-ger.” Her voice was shaky because of the sobs and that broke Cordelia’s heart. “You-You-You’re go-going t-to die!”

“Oh, darling.” Cordelia sighed heavly, pulling her so Misty’s head would rest in her chest while she hugged the woman as close to her body as possible. She used one of her hands to stroke Misty’s hair, while the other one was pressing firmly in her back, as a reminder that she was still there and she was going nowhere. “I’m not going to die any time soon.” Her voice was low, but the vibration in her chest when she spoke helped to calm down the younger blonde. “You’re stuck with me until we’re old and I will need your help to get to the bathroom.”

Misty almost fell from the bench when she tried to get closer to Cordelia, desperately holding into her like the devil himself was trying to pull her down. “Delia.” She sounded like a wound animal and Cordelia finally let her own tear roll down her face.

“Mist, one day Mallory will become the Supreme. And for that happen, I will need to go.” The older woman tried to be gentle in her approach, but she figured there was nothing she could say that would sugar up the situation. “But that’s not happening today, or tomorrow, or in a very long time. Mallory is with us for more than eight years now and she learned so much. She’s a teacher. Is natural that she will learn how to do new magic, that dosen’t mean it’s making me weaker.”

“Fiona...”

“My mother killed herself with her choices.” Cordelia cut her gently. “She drinked, smoked and Goddess know what else. Besides, we rushed the raising of a new Supreme because we wanted her gone. She was bad for this Coven and we took a very hard decision since she wasn’t able to let her powers go. What happened to her won’t happen to me. When Mallory is ready and I have nothing else to give to this Coven, my powers will fade so she can rise. It will happen naturally.”

“You said she’s ready to be in the Council.” Misty was silently crying now, paying attention to every word that came out of the other woman’s mouth like she was telling the most important secret in the world.

Cordelia giggled softly. “You’re also a part of the Council, Misty. It only means that I trust her to help me manage this Coven.” She leaned to press a kiss on top of the Cajun’s head. “Can I ask you something, darling?” When Misty nodded, Cordelia took a deep breath. “Is that why you’re treating Mallory so badly?”

Misty choose to remain silent for a while, considering how to answer it, but it was Cordelia and she trusted the woman to never judge for anything. “I can’t help it. Everytime I look at her I see... you, but not in a good way.”

“In what way?”

“Dead.” Misty sniffed. “She reminds me that you’re going to die.”

“We all are going to die one day.” Cordelia replayed with a smile, putting a blonde lock behind the younger girl’s ear.

Misty sighed. “Yes, but...” She removed her head from the comfy place between Cordelia’s breast to look at the woman’s eyes. It crossed the Supreme’s mind that she had never saw Misty so serious before. “You’re getting sick, you never got sick before. And she... she’s not.”

Cordelia had a sad smile when she was done talking. She kept forgetting just how sensitive Misty could be. “People get sick. I had a flu or two, I was out of luck, but that dosen’t mean I will drop dead in the ground.” Misty’s hand clenched around the back of her dress like it was going to happen right now, and Cordelia was quick to calm her by placing a loving kiss in her forehead. “You don’t need to be mad at Mallory, sad or angry. You or any of the other girls.” Misty arched her eyebrown to that and Cordelia laughed. “The four of you aren’t as subtle as you think you’re. I know why Zoe and Madison came back, I know Queenie is keeping an eye on me when you’re not around. You all think I’m about to die.”

“We’re worried.”

“I know, baby.” Cordelia’s face softened to that and she used the back of her fingers to caress Misty’s face. “You don’t need to worry about that, ok? Let me do the worrying because, after all, it’s happening to me and I will be able to know when we have to worry, ok?”

“Do ya promisse to tell me?” Misty’s voice had suddenly got lower and her accent popped out when she pouted.

Cordelia thought she never looked cuter. “I promisse I will tell you when is time to worry. I will tell you, and then we will tell the girls, so we can all worry together about something that none of us can do nothing about.” She finished with a light giggled and an eye roll. “Meanwhile... stop blaming Mallory.” Misty blushed to that. “It’s ok, baby. I understand. I can’t say I wouldn’t feel the same way if our places were changed. But I want you to try. You two always got along so well, I don’t want you to push your swamp partner away about something that it’s not her fault.” Cordelia poked her nose, smiling when she crinkled it. “She didn’t choose this.”

“I know.” Misty sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, you did nothing wrong.” Cordelia leaned for a kiss that Misty was glad to give. It was sweet and slow, almost like they were trying to hold as much as they could into each other before letting go to grab some air. “I love you, Misty Day, everyday and everynight, until the day I die.”

“I love you, Delia, to Hell and back.” That earned her a narrowed eyes that were clearly annoyed. Misty giggled, slidding her hands around Cordelia waist more gently than she had done before. “It _is_ true.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes and placed her arms around Misty’s neck, even if her upper body was leaning away from the other girl. “Say something like that and you won’t be allowed to listen to Stevie for a week.”

Misty only smiled, suddenly lost in the Supreme’s dark eyes. She couldn’t wait to spend her life by her side.

**Author's Note:**

> Not to be cocky, but I loved the final result of my own fic. Is that weird?


End file.
